ROD: Private Eye
by SHSL Coder
Summary: [I'll add this later maybe.] [Based off characters from Death Kitsune II's Roulette of Despair roleplay]


[haha this isn't Escape or TFWBB whoops]

* * *

"Call."

"Call."

"Callin'."

"Check."

Poker is a complicated game. There's a lot of rules, and things to consider, always. You have to have a stone face- any twitches, or movements could be your loss. You have a good hand and someone notices your tell? The way you blinked, the way you took that breath, the way that one muscle in your face moved? Suddenly, the whole table knows your cards, and know exactly how to beat you, and take you down. It's a complicated game.

"Raise."

"Kazuki, you're up."

Ah, it's my turn.

I raise my head, taking a drag of my cigarette. I sat at a game of Texas Hold 'Em in one of the shadiest basements I've ever been in. The small room was dimly lit by a flickering bulb hanging loosely from the ceiling, above our table. Room was freezing cold, made me wish I brought a jacket. I shiver slightly, before making my turn.

"Call," I say, placing my bet.

The turn ends, and the dealer throws a card on the table. Second card. It's an eight of diamonds. I silently check my cards, seeing what I have.

_'Five of spades... three of clubs. Damn. Nothing.'_

"So, Kazuki..." a foreigner says, as he puts down his cards, seemingly having checked them like I did. I examine his face as much as I could, looking for his tell, his twitch, his movement. But, he's good. He has a pair of black sunglasses, despite the darkness of the room. I barely even realize he called my name until a moment later.

"Yeah." I reply, my deep, gravelly voice making itself known.

"How did you find out about our little club?" he says, leaning into the table, as he pushes some of his chips in. "Call."

_'How did I find out?'_

_'...Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Well, you don't need to know that.'_

"Sources," I shrug. It was true. I'm no cop, I never could be. I know a few SWAT soldiers, though. With the help of them, plus a good friend of mine, I put my job as a private eye to use. I have the legal side of the police on mine, and I do the dirty work.

"Sources?" the foreigner parrots, laughing. "_Sources?_ Hah, alright, Kaz. We all have sources..."

"Fold," one of the other gangsters playing says, tossing his cards on the table. "Shitty fuckin' cards, can't get a good hand to save my life..."

This one was rowdy, but he's the reason I'm here. Of course, I'm here to shut down this ring of illegal gambling, but this guy is the reason I signed up in the first place.

Inoue Katsu, the guy's name is. Wears a fancy, tailored black suit, with a red tie and aviator glasses. Barely any more than skin and bones, tall bastard. Brown eyes, black, combed hair. Honestly, this guy is the only reason _anyone's_ here, probably. Being an Inoue, he must have good money.

But even though he's a part of the large, intimidating Inoue family, he had none to his name. If he was allowed a quarter it was big news for him. Makes me wonder where he got those clothes from. But, I'm not here for his money.

I'm working on a case. A special case. Katsu is the sibling to a kid who went missing, named Arata. Same deal, skin and bones, though I hear he's short. Never met him. But it's why I'm here. I have to find him. I have to find Arata.

"Jesus, Katsu," the guy next to him, a huge hulk of a guy, "You must have the worst fuckin' luck with cards."

"Fuck you!" Katsu raises the middle finger in his direction, scoffing. "Fuckin'... no luck..."

"What's your problem?" the big guy chuckles, betting. "Call."

"Katsu." I say, getting his attention. I can't be here for any longer.

"Fuck you want?" Katsu asks.

"You're an Inoue, ain't you? Big family, lots of money, nice cars?" I ask, leaning in. Somebody else folds, but I pay no mind.

"How the fuck do _you_ know that?" Katsu raises a brow. I notice beads of sweat trickling down his forehead.

"Sources." I reply. "You gonna be the head of the family?"

"Me...? Tch, I don't know..." Katsu says, "Supposed to be fuckin' Arata... but he left... so, maybe."

Bingo. That was easy.

"Arata?" I ask, feigning ignorance. "Who's that?"

"My brother." he says. Somebody calls. He doesn't continue.

"Your brother... he left, huh?" I ask. I'm pretty sure it's my turn, but, that's not important. "Why'd he do that for?"

"He was a fuckin' pussy, that's why." Katsu laughs. "I don't understand it... we give him money, cars, girls, nothing more you could ask for, and he bails. God knows why." He takes a sip of the bottle of beer sitting in front of him. I watch his mannerisms as he does so- his hand's twitching ever so slightly as he picks it up. Is it about Arata? Does he not like the subject?

"Kaz, you're up! Shut up and play!" the foreigner says, shaking his head. Grunting, I take a drag of my cigarette, before taking another look at my cards.

_'Five of spades, three of clubs. Nah...'_

"Hmph. Fold." I put down my cards, leaning back in my seat. The next turn begins. _'It's gonna be hard to talk to this guy...'_

"Kazuki... hm. Why's that name ring a bell?" the muscle-bound one says. From what I seen in the files, his name's... Ryouta. Well, I'm not supposed to know that. As far as they know, everyone here's a bunch of strangers to me. Meanwhile, barely an hour ago, I was reading up on their life stories back at the office.

"I ain't the only one in the world named Kazuki." I shrug.

"...You look familiar." Ryouta continues.

"What of it?" I reply, taking another drag of my cigarette. This is bad. He's saying too much, he's on my case. Does he know? How could he know?

"Nothing." Ryouta chuckles. "Just a familiar face... you look an awful lot like one of the new students at Hope's Peak this year. Y'know, the school?"

_'Oh, shit.'_

If he knows I'm from Hope's Peak, then he likely knows my talent. Private Eye.

"Don't know what you're talking about." I say.

"Haha... yes you do." Ryouta grins. He looks me in the eye. "It's nice to meet you, SHSL Private Eye. SHSL Wrestler." he offers me a hand to shake.

_'Shit. He's a Hope's Peak student!'_

"Woah, woah, private eye?" Katsu asks. "The fuck? What's a detective doing here!?"

"Haha. I couldn't put my finger on it, but you did look familiar..." the foreigner chuckles.

"Can we continue the fuckin' game? It's your turn!" another player says.

"You realize this isn't good, right?" the one sitting next to him says in a hushed tone. "He could take all of this shit down..."

"He has the right?" the other says.

"It's his _job._" the second replies.

"Wait, so, what the fuck? SHSL Private Eye? That true?" the last player asks.

All eyes are on me. Everyone's angry. I see hands going inside their jackets, their pockets. They're reaching for their weapons. I'm their enemy... they know what I can do, they know why I'm really here. This isn't good for them. And if I let this continue, it's not good for me.

_'TIme to act, Kazuki.'_

I practically jump out of my chair, kicking it to the side. In one quick, swift motion, I reach into my pocket, whipping out a .44 Magnum, cocking it and aiming it towards Inoue Katsu. Immediately everyone starts screaming, as they get up, pointing some kind of weapon at me. The foreigner ended up pulling out a damned _shotgun._ Katsu points a shaky HK45 towards me with one hand. He's no gunslinger... everyone else pulls out random other handguns.

"My name is Kazuki Kagome," I introduce myself, "Private Eye. I'm with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, and I'm here to end this. Everyone put down the guns, and put your hands behind your head, now. I have a squad of the most elite SWAT soldiers this side of Japan's ever seen on speed dial, _so get down on the fucking ground!_" I shout at the top of my lungs. Loudness always intimidates. So does bluffing.

"Fuck you!" Katsu shouts, gritting his teeth.

"Get out of my house!" the foreigner yells, pumping the shotgun.

"Woah, woah holy shit..." one says, looking at me with scared eyes. "Guys, hold on!"

"Shut up!" another shouts to the scared one. Everyone keeps their guns on me.

"Inoue Katsu." I say, looking at the Yakuza gangster. "This is your name, yes?"

"Of course, you know that already..." Katsu replies.

"Good. Just wanted to confirm." I say. "I'm looking for your brother. Inoue Arata. Where is he?"

"I don't fucking -" Katsu starts.

"Where is he!?" I shout, raising my voice.

"_I don't fucking know!_" Katsu raises his, as well. "How the fuck should I know!?"

"He's your brother, for fuck's sake!" I yell, "Where is he? Where could he have gone? Somewhere he's always wanted to go? Anywhere!?"

"You're wasting your time, Kazuki." the foreigner glares. "I'm giving you the chance to walk away. Do it, Kazuki."

"Tch..." Katsu doesn't respond.

"You don't have the authority to _give me a chance._" I say. "I'm the one calling the shots from now on. Get down, right now! You have the option to let yourself be arrested, _or get yourselves fucking killed!_"

"Shut the fuck up!" Ryouta yells. "Hey, what's our move, man?" he asks the foreigner.

"You have ten seconds to get out of my house." the foreigner glares at me.

"You have five to surrender." I reply.

"Holy shit..." the scared one says, hand trembling. That's bad, he could misfire.

"Walk away, Kaz..." another says.

"Don't do this." Ryouta says, "I'm fuckin' warning you. One against five, we all got guns, we're all loaded."

"Shut up. Three seconds." I say.

"I gave you the option, Kazuki." the foreigner says. I realize I never found his name in any of the files. Hell, I barely had anything on him. He's a ghost...

"Two." I growl.

"Hey, man! We don't need to do this!" the scared one- his name was... Masozi? Yeah, there was another foreigner, this was him. He puts his hands over his head. Nobody else does.

"One..." I say, anyway. "Last fucking chance, _hit the ground!_"

"The hell are you doing, Masozi!?" another, Ikuya shouts. "Who's fuckin' side are you on!?"

"The side that ain't gonna get me killed, man!" Masozi replies, eyes widening.

_'Zero.'_

"Time's up." I mutter. _'Time to move.'_

While Masozi and Ikuya argue, I make a dive to my right, where the exit was, changing my aim to the foreigner's hand, and squeeze the trigger as if it was nothing. Everyone immediately looks to me, and more shots are fired. Gunshots explode through the basement, all hitting the wall behind me. My revolver's shot connects with the foreigner, the .44 cartridge tearing through bone and flesh, taking his finger clean off. He yells in pain, dropping the shotgun and gripping his hand, bleeding profusely.

I scramble to my feet, keeping my revolver aimed high. The gunfight continues, everyone else shooting at me. Most shots connect with the ground, but I suddenly notice a burning pain in my thigh. Glancing down for a moment, I see blood spilling out of it. "Fuck!" I grunt, doing my best to limp away to the stairs right in front of me. I pop off a few shots, firing in their direction. None of them hit. However, I hear another person scream, right after one of _their_ gunshots.

"I ain't doing this!" Masozi shouts, sliding over the table to my side, shooting back at the other gangsters. Ryouta falls to the ground, placing a hand over his chest, which I notice is _bleeding._ Shit, they need to be alive...

"Take 'em alive, Masozi!" I shout, firing another shot as I get to the stairs. It connects with Ikuya's waist, wounding him. He continues shooting. The foreigner picks the shotgun back up, firing off a slug round with his other hand.

"Auuugh!" Masozi yells in pain, as the slug tears through his shoulder. He grips his right shoulder in pain. _'Fuck!'_

I wrap Masozi's good arm around my shoulder, dragging him up the stairs. I fire my last shot, hitting Katsu in the ankle. I continue squeezing the trigger, but all I get is the _click_ of an empty gun instead. A bullet suddenly flies towards me, ripping through my abdomen. "Gah, shit!" I shout, making it up the stairs.

"Kaz! You okay?" Masozi asks, pained. I take a quick look around, seems I'm in the kitchen of the house, now.

"I'm fine, worry about yourself. That was a fucking slug." I reply, breathing heavily. I put a finger to my ear, talking into the microphone hidden by my hair.

"The operation's gone bad," I say, "I need extraction, and medical attention, I took two gunshots! I'm getting one of them out, he's on our side, he- he took a shot to the shoulder. We're making our way to the living room."

"Xray Squad is on the way. Stay frosty, over." a voice replies.

I limp through the house with Masozi, breathing heavily. Loud footsteps are behind us, as the others follow us up the stairs. I holster my revolver, turning a corner. The rest of the house is dark, only illuminated by the moonlight shining through the windows. Masozi and I run through a hallway, footsteps echoing off the wooden floorboards. More footsteps were right behind us. We need to get a move on.

We get through the hallway, now in the living room. There's two large sofas, and a loveseat right across from a huge, flatscreen TV. Obviously, these were bought with either illegal money, or stolen. I mentally scoff, seeing the expensive-looking living room. I see shadows moving, and shouts. Shit, they're almost here. I pull Masozi behind a couch, signaling for him to be absolutely quiet.

The two of us face a maroon red wall. Sweat runs down my forehead, as I try my best to not breathe heavily. Now that we're sitting, and not moving, the pain of my wounds is making itself known. _'Dammit...'_ I wince, biting my lip, trying not to scream. I look over at Masozi- he's not faring any better. He looks back at me, face drenched in sweat, with scared eyes. His hand grips his shoulder tightly. I give him a small nod, before putting both my hands over each of my wounds.

"Alright, Kazuki! Where are you!?" Ikuya shouts, as I hear the sound of a magazine being loaded.

_'Where the hell's backup...?'_

"Masooozi..." Ryouta calls out. He's not hurt...? Dammit.

"Come out, you two! You ain't gettin' out of here if I can fuckin' help it." the foreigner chuckles. _'Damn, him too!?'_

"What do we do?" Masozi whispers to me.

"Shut. Up." I whisper back, more a growl than anything else. Masozi shakily nods his head.

I lean back, closing my eyes, mentally praying to make it out of this. I can't die. I can't die. I can't die.

_'Aru.'_

The name of my partner suddenly appears in my head. Aru. No. I can't die. I need to make it out.

_'Arata.'_

Another name pops up. Arata. Inoue Arata. I need to find him. I've been working on this case for years, I can't back down now.

Aru.

Arata.

I take a heavy breath, thinking of the two people. Aru, the Inquisitor. Her appearance is the first thing popping up in my head. Her... long, flowing white hair... her crimson eyes. If I die, not only will I never get to see her again, but I'll be failing her. We were two sides of a coin. Hers, the legal, mine, the more _il_legal. We needed one another...

...I needed her... I can't die.

Arata... the gangster born to a family he never wanted to be a part of. Grew up the complete wrong way, around people he shouldn't have. Always wanted to take down the Inoue family and their ways. A while ago, he disappeared. Totally off the grid.

I need to find Inoue Arata. I must.

I grit my teeth. I need to get out of this hellhole. I won't die. I hear their footsteps nearby, they're about to come around and see us. I grab my revolver, flipping it around and holding it by the barrel, so if I need to, I can swing and hit someone with the butt. I take a deep breath, noticing Masozi looking at me, scared. His hands hold his pistol shakily. He knows they're coming.

...

"The fuck? Oh- _hey, I found them!_"

I turn to my left, and the first thing I see is the barrel of a gun. Ikuya is the one behind it, grinning like a madman. _'Shit. Time to act.'_ My first instinct is to drop the gun. With no hesitation, I swing my arm into his wrist, revolver connecting with it- causing him to drop his pistol. I catch it with my left hand, get up, and swing the revolver's butt into Ikuya's head. He drops to the floor, and immediately shots are fired once more. I drop my revolver, and pop off a few shots towards the rest of the gangsters with Ikuya's pistol. I hear a scream, and I drop back behind the couch, not taking any shots.

_'Fuck. A couch isn't a good place to take cover...'_

Just as I say this, bullets begin tearing through the couch. I grab Masozi and drop to the ground, shooting back through the fabric.

"Ah, we're fucking dead!" Masozi shouts, shooting back as well.

"Just keep fucking shooting!" I shout back.

The battle goes on like this for a while. It's not cut off until...

_SMASH_

"Go go go!"

Everyone's eyes suddenly dart to the front door, on Masozi and I's left. And in through the door, come a team of SWAT soldiers. They sweep the area with their guns, before their eyes fall on the gangsters.

"Get down, get down on the floor!" the leader of the squad shouts, pointing his MP5 machine gun at the group. "Put your hands over your head, you're under arrest!"

I stagger to my feet, helping Masozi up. We look over the brown couch, seeing Ryouta, the foreigner, and another gangster obeying. The three are handcuffed, and Ikuya is dragged away, also handcuffed. A few soldiers come over to us, putting our arms around their shoulders.

"Motherfuckers..." the last gangster, whom I didn't care to place a name to, mutters.

"This isn't over, Kazuki..." the foreigner says. "You fucked with the wrong person. Wrong fucking move!"

"Shut up!" a soldier yells, "You have the right to remain silent, _and you damn better well use it!_"

"Tch." Ryouta clicks his tongue, as all of us leave.

It's a windy, cold night. We step out into the shady, quiet suburbs. The only vehicles in sight are six ambulances, as well as a few SWAT trucks and police cars in front of the house. More SWAT soldiers and officers are outside, watching us. We're all thrown into respective ambulances, and as I'm taken into mine, I give Masozi a nod. He mouths a 'thank you' in response.

"Good job, Private Eye."

The first voice I hear is none other than the one of Rhea Aru. I look up, and notice the girl standing there, next to a few medics, who immediately put me on the bed in the truck.

"...Aru." I say, simply. I chuckle lightly, as the engine starts, causing the ambulance to begin rolling. "...Hah..."

"Are you alright, Kazuki?" Aru deadpans, rolling her eyes. The medics take off my shirt and tie. To anyone else, it would seem as if Aru didn't even care. But, no, I know her. I know how she talks. She was worried.

"...just need a smoke." I joke. The medics pull down my pants as well- I shouldn't be uncomfortable with Aru being around for this, but, I am- in order to treat the leg wound. They begin by putting pressure on both, trying to stop the bleeding.

"Even when facing death, you'll still smoke, huh?" Aru asks, shaking her head. "It's gonna be the death of you..."

"Probably." I do my best to nod from my position, a small smirk on my lips. "F- Fuck." I grunt, pain of the gunshots shooting through my body.

"...You worried me. You know that?" Aru says, solemnly. "When you sent that distress call, I..." she cuts herself off, sighing.

"Yeah. Didn't go as well as I woulda liked..." I say, gritting my teeth. Fuck, this hurts.

"...Whatever. They're all in police custody now. Good work, Kazuki." she says, crossing her arms, leaning against the wall of the truck.

I nod, again. The medics continue patching me up, as the rest of the ride is quiet.


End file.
